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C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
V

A DUAL-BAND MICROSTRIP ANNULAR

SLOT-BASED MIMO ANTENNA SYSTEM
Muhammad Umar Khan and Mohammad S. Sharawi
Electrical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum
& Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudia Arabia; Corresponding author:
umarkhan@kfupm.edu.sa
Received 14 June 2014
ABSTRACT: A dual-band multiple-input-multiple-output antenna system covering the 2.45/5.2 GHz WLAN band is presented. The antenna
has four elements made up of microstrip annular slots. Two elements
cover the lower band while the other two cover the higher band. The
presented antenna is compact and occupies a volume of 60 3 60 3
1.5 mm3. The antenna operates with 150 MHz bandwidth in the lower
band and 200 MHz bandwidth in the higher band. The minimum measured isolation between the antenna elements is 18 dB in both of its operating bands. The antenna shows good radiation characteristics with a
peak operating gain of 3.46 dBi in the lower band and 3.82 dBi in the
C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol
higher band. V
Lett 57:360364, 2015; View this article online at
wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.28855
Key words: MIMO antenna; dual band; annular slot antenna; wireless
LAN
1. INTRODUCTION

The current demand of high data rates by most of the wireless

and cellular applications require the adoption of new technologies
which are spectrally efficient. Multiple-input-multiple-output
(MIMO) technology can give better spectral efficiency and reliability of communication over traditional-single-input-singleoutput systems. MIMO systems use multiple antennas at transmitters and receivers to improve the communication in a multipath

360

environment [1]. Due to their advantages, MIMO systems have

been adopted in several standards including the 4G LTE systems
and the IEEE 802.11ac Wireless LAN (WLAN) standards among
many others. Apart from coding and signal processing, the successful implementation of the MIMO system greatly depends on
the environment in which they are to be used and the design of
their MIMO antenna system [2]. Thus, MIMO antenna system
design is an important part of the overall system design. The
major challenge for the MIMO antenna designer is to accommodate multiple antennas in a limited place and to achieve good isolation among the antenna elements as the coupling between
antenna elements degrades the performance of the MIMO system
[3]. Most of the devices where these MIMO systems are implemented in require the antenna to be low profile and compact, and
therefore, printed antennas are the first choice for such devices.
Most of the wireless communication devices including smart
phones, laptops, and tablets use WLAN to access many internet
services. In the new IEEE 802.11ac standard for WLANs, up to
8 3 8 MIMO systems are supported. Apart from the traditional
2.45 GHz band, the new 5 GHz band is also adopted for WLAN
operations. Due to considerable number of devices using the
WLAN, the area has received considerable attention among
MIMO antenna designers with an aim to design low profile and
compact MIMO antennas with good performance. A number of
MIMO antenna designs have appeared in literature for WLAN
applications such as those in [411].
In [4], a three-element MIMO antenna for 5.2 GHz WLAN
band was presented. The antenna elements were made up of
printed Yagi-Uda antennas. The elements were placed in such a
way to minimize the mutual coupling. The design occupied a
total space of 55 3 48 3 1.28 mm3. A two-element printed
monopole-based MIMO antenna system was presented in [5].
The antenna dimensions were 50 3 17 3 0.8 mm3. It covered
several bands including the 2.4 and 5 GHz WLAN bands. In
[6], a three-element MIMO antenna system design was shown
for WLAN access point applications. The antenna elements
were composed of dual loop antennas and covered the 2.4, 5.2,
and 5.8 GHz WLAN bands. Each antenna element had a dimension of 20 3 40 3 10 mm3 and they were placed on a circular
disk shape ground plane of 60 mm radius. The MIMO antenna
design for WLAN operation presented in [7] consisted of four
antenna elements. The antenna elements were two quarter wavelength microstrip slot antennas and two square ring patch antennas. The MIMO antenna system operated in the 2.4 GHz band
and occupied a space of 80 3 60 3 2.66 mm3.
In [8], a four-element quad-band MIMO antenna system was
presented which covered all the WLAN bands. The antenna elements were made up of slot antennas where each slot resonated
in multiple bands. The size of the antenna was 77 3 71 3
1.524 mm3. A compact dual-band MIMO antenna system for
WLAN was presented in [9]. The antenna had two elements.
One element was a printed monopole which was designed for
the 2.4 GHz band. The other element was a planar inverted-F
antenna which operated in the 5 GHz band covering 5.2 and
5.8 GHz WLAN bands. The antenna size was 50 3 11 3
0.4 mm3. Different combinations of the antenna were presented
in the article where two such designs placed 10-mm apart made
a dual-band four-element MIMO system. In [10], a four-element
MIMO antenna system was given which covered the 2.4 GHz
WLAN band. The antenna had four elements. Each element was
made up of modified printed monopole. The antenna occupied a
size of 60 3 110 3 0.8 mm3.
In this article, a 4-element, dual-band planar MIMO antenna
system is presented for WLAN operation. The antenna covers

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 57, No. 2, February 2015

DOI 10.1002/mop

Figure 1 Geometry of the annular slot-based MIMO antenna system, (a) top side and (b) bottom side

the 2.4 and 5.2 GHz WLAN bands. The antenna is designed on
a commercial FR4 substrate with an area of 60 3 60 mm2. The
antenna makes use of microstrip annular slots as its radiating
elements which are simple to design, occupy reasonable space,
and have a planar structure. With the help of antenna element
placement and feeding methods, good isolation is achieved
between the closely spaced antenna elements.
The article is divided into five sections. In Section 2, complete design of the antenna is presented. The simulation and
measurement results of various antenna parameters are given in
Section 3. The MIMO performance evaluation of the antenna is
given in Section 4. Conclusions are given in Section 5.
2. ANNULAR SLOT MIMO ANTENNA DESIGN

The MIMO antenna system was designed on an FR4 substrate.

The thickness of the substrate was 1.5 mm, and its dielectric
constant was 4. Four annular slots corresponding to the four
antenna elements were etched out of the ground plane. Each slot
was excited using an open ended transmission line. The total
area of the board was 60 3 60 mm2. Figure 1 shows the geometry of the proposed antenna.
Figure 1(a) shows the top side of the board where four annular slots are etched out of the ground plane. Figure 1(b) shows

the bottom side of the board which consists of the open ended
transmission lines for each element excitation. On the top side,
the slot corresponding to antenna elements 1 and 2 had a radius
r1 5 13.25 mm and a width w1 5 0.5 mm. These dimensions
were chosen so that the antenna was tuned at a frequency of
2.45 GHz. The slots were placed diagonally on the board with a
diagonal separation of 7 mm. The slots corresponding to antenna
elements 3 and 4 had a radius r2 5 6.25 mm and a width
w2 5 0.25 mm. These dimensions resulted in a resonant frequency of the antenna centered at 5.2 GHz. The diagonal separation between antenna elements was 33.5 mm.
On the bottom side, each slot was excited by the open ended
transmission line. The width of each transmission line corresponded to 50X. The length of each transmission line was
adjusted so that it matched the antenna impedance at the resonant
frequency. The length of transmission line feeding antenna elements 1 and 2 was L1 5 9.5 mm and its width was t1 5 3 mm.
For the antenna elements 3 and 4, the length of the transmission
line was L2 5 13.25 mm and its width was t2 5 3 mm.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The antenna was designed and tuned using HFSS. Antenna elements 1 and 2 resonated at a center frequency of 2.45 GHz

Figure 2 Fabricated annular slot-based MIMO antenna system, (a) top side and (b) bottom side. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which
is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

DOI 10.1002/mop

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 57, No. 2, February 2015

361

Figure 3 Simulated and measured S-parameters of antenna. (a) Elements 1 and 2 and (b) elements 3 and 4. [Color figure can be viewed in the online
issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

while antenna elements 3 and 4 were tuned at 5.2 GHz band.

Together, they covered both WLAN bands. Figure 2 shows the
top and bottom sides of the fabricated antenna. The measured Sparameters of the antenna showed a close agreement with the
simulation results. A slight shift was mainly due to the fabrication tolerances.
Figure 3(a) shows the S-parameters of antenna elements 1 and
2. Each antenna element had a minimum 210 dB measured
bandwidth of 160 MHz around 2.5 GHz center frequency. The
minimum isolation between the two antenna elements was 18 dB.
Antenna elements 3 and 4 resonated at 5.2 GHz. Figure 3(b)
shows the S-parameters of these antenna elements. Each antenna
element had a 210 dB bandwidth of 200 MHz and the minimum
isolation between the antenna elements was 18 dB as well.
The antenna was also tested in a Satimo Starlab anechoic
chamber for 3D radiation gain patterns and efficiency measurements. Each antenna element had more than 84% radiation efficiency in its operating band. Antenna elements 1 and 2 had a
peak gain of 3.4 dBi at their resonant frequency of 2.45 GHz.
Antenna elements 3 and 4 showed a peak gain of 3.8 dBi at
5.2 GHz. Figure 4 shows the normalized radiation gain patterns
of antenna elements 1 and 2 which were measured at 2.45 GHz.

As seen from these patterns, the antenna elements had omnidirectional radiation patterns. Similar behavior was also observed
for antenna elements 3 and 4 measured at 5.2 GHz. Figure 5
shows the normalized radiation gain patterns of antenna elements 3 and 4. As each antenna element pair was excited by
orthogonally placed transmission lines, their polarization was
also orthogonal to each other.
The antenna was also analyzed from its surface current densities obtained from HFSS simulations. Figure 6(a) shows the
current density on the antennas surface at 2.45 when antenna
element 1 was excited and all other elements were terminated
with 50X load. As evident from the figure, a high current density was along the edges of the annular slot which resulted in
radiation. The coupling to antenna element 2 was also visible
where there was a low current density around the edges of the
slot antenna. However, there was no coupling to antenna element 3 and 4 at this operating frequency and no surface currents
were visible around these two antenna elements. Similar behavior was observed with the excitation of element 2 at 2.45 GHz.
Antenna element 4 was excited at 5.2 GHz while all other
elements were terminated with 50X load. The obtained surface
current density is shown in Figure 6(b). Here too, a high current

Figure 4 Normalized radiation gain patterns of antenna elements 1 and 2 measured at 2.45 GHz (a) x-z plane and (b) y-z plane. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

362

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 57, No. 2, February 2015

DOI 10.1002/mop

Figure 5 Normalized radiation gain patterns of antenna elements 3 and 4 measured at 5.2 GHz (a) x-z plane and (b) y-z plane. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 6 Current density on the surface of antenna (a) at 2.45 GHz when element 1 is active and (b) at 5.2 GHz when element 4 is active. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 7

TARC of the MIMO antenna system, (a) when operating in the lower band and (b) when operating in the higher band

DOI 10.1002/mop

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 57, No. 2, February 2015

363

density was around the edges of the excited slot antenna. The
coupling was minimal but visible to all other antenna elements.

at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM)

under project number 12-ELE3001-04 as part of the National
Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (NSTIP).

4. MIMO PARAMETERS EVALUATION

Apart from the conventional antenna performance metrics and

parameters, MIMO antennas need to be evaluated for several
other parameters [12]. These parameters include the total active
reflection coefficient (TARC), correlation coefficient, and channel
capacity of the system in a multipath environment. Therefore, the
proposed antenna was also evaluated for these MIMO parameters.
TARC is used to properly characterize the frequency
response of a multielement antenna [13]. TARC is the ratio of
the square root of total reflected power to the square root of
total incident power. It is a function of frequency and has a
value between zero and one where zero signifies a total radiation at that frequency while one shows no radiation at that frequency. For the proposed MIMO antenna system, the TARC
was computed for various phase combination at the input port
using the formulation given in [13]. Figure 7 shows the TARC
curves for the MIMO antenna system. For the lower band operation using antenna elements 1 and 2, the TARC curves are
shown in Figure 7(a). A 210 dB bandwidth of at least 150
MHz was observed for various phase difference combination at
the antenna input ports. The TARC curves for antenna operation
at the higher band of 5.2 GHz using antenna elements 3 and 4
are shown in Figure 7(b). In this band, the antenna maintained a
210 dB bandwidth of 200 MHz.
The envelope correlation coefficient (q) is another important
parameter for the evaluation of a MIMO antenna system. It
gives a measure of how much the antennas are correlated with
each other. A high correlation coefficient degrades the performance of a MIMO antenna system in terms of antenna diversity
or multiplexing gain. The correlation coefficient can be calculated from the scattering parameters of the antenna system [14]
provided the antenna elements have good radiation efficiency.
The envelope correlation coefficient was obtained from the
measured S-parameters of the antenna as each antenna element
had good radiation efficiency in its operating band. A maximum
correlation coefficient of 0.05 was obtained between antenna
elements 1 and 2 in the 2.45 GHz band. The correlation coefficient was much lower in the higher operating band of 5.2 GHz.
The correlation coefficient between antenna elements 3 and 4
was 0.004 in the higher band. This low correlation was mainly
due to the antenna element separation as well as due to the excitation method. Each antenna couple operating in the same band
was excited by orthogonal placement of transmission lines,
which resulted in low coupling between antenna elements.
5. CONCLUSION

A new design of a four-element dual-band MIMO antenna system was proposed in this article. The antenna elements consisted
of annular slots excited by open ended transmission lines. The
design of antenna was planar for the ease of fabrication.
The antenna occupied a total space of 60 3 60 3 1.5 mm3. The
antenna covered the 2.45 and 5.2 GHz WLAN bands.
The antenna showed good bandwidth in both operating bands.
The antenna was also evaluated for MIMO parameters, where it
showed good performance making it suitable for use with
WLAN applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported King Abdul Aziz City for Science and
Technology (KACST) through the Science and Technology Unit

364

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C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

V

EXPERIMENTAL RADIATION
CHARACTERISTICS OF
MICROMACHINED TERAHERTZ
LOW-PROFILE CORRUGATED HORN
ANTENNA
Hong-da Lu, Xin Lv, Zi-jian Gao, and Yong Liu
Beijing Key Laboratory of Millimeter Wave and Terahertz Technology,
Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information and
Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, Peoples
Republic of China; Corresponding author: y.liu.bit@gmail.com
Received 19 June 2014
ABSTRACT: A terahertz (THz) low-profile corrugated horn antenna is
proposed. This antenna consists of WR2.2 feeding waveguide, pyramidal
horn, and four V-grooves, integrated fabricated by silicon

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 57, No. 2, February 2015

DOI 10.1002/mop